The figures on the obverse may represent actual citizens in
mourning for Saladin. Alternatively, they may be symbolic representations of
astronomical/astrological entities which were said to have predicted the death
of Saladin, and thenmourned
him – so exceptionally great was the tragedy of his passing that the stars and
planets lamented(see
Spengler & Sayles, Type 35 section for more details of this latter theory).